So... I'm in the middle of making a 3-part video tutorial on how to make a local map from a regional map. That is, I'm showing how to copy a portion of a regional map, paste it into a new local-scaled map, and then edit the result into a local map. I was hoping to have it all done before now but Real Life™ has intruded so I'm still working on the videos.

In the meantime, I thought I'd post the regional map I'm working from. It's a little whimsical and I thought I might as well post it here. I've made a couple of other video tutorials and I usually slap together a quick map for the video, tailored to the topic. These maps (if you can call them that) are usually pretty bare-boned. I did the same here. I had no intention of making a complete map.

But...

As I started to add a few touches, I got a little carried away. I'm sure you know how that goes. I ended up spending a little time here and there, adding to it over the last couple of weeks whenever I could spare a few minutes, and before I knew it, I had a complete map. I'm a little bummed because I haven't made any maps this complete for my actual game world! Still, I'm quite pleased with how it turned out and I thought I'd share it. I initially planned to share, both, the regional and local maps after I posted the videos but, since it's going to be a little while before I get the videos done I thought I'd post the regional map now. The local map is going to be of Andr Isle (at the mouth of the bay), and I'll post that once I'm done with the version I'm making in the video.

This was fun to make, and it has plenty of adventure hooks and untold stories, so maybe I'll be able to find some, er, random location on my game world where I can fit it in. I hope you like it. As always, comments and criticism is welcome but the map is finished and I didn't really set out to perfect it, so it's going to have plenty of flaws that I probably didn't bother with. However, if people want to point stuff out and offer comments and suggestions, that can can always be helpful.

Cheers,~Dogtag

(Click the image for a high-resolution version, or click HERE for a very high-res version.)

Monsen half-joked:Wow, you actually make maps? Didn't think you had it in you :)

I know, right? That's what's so tragicomic about this. It's more detailed and more complete than any map I have of my game world.

I think it might've been easier to make this map because I wasn't trying to make something specific, you know? I was just putting stuff down where I thought it made sense, naming [most] things in ways that [mostly] made sense to me. I wasn't recreating a hand-drawn map that had to look just right or capture the mood or atmosphere exactly the way I wanted. And there were no consequences to whether or not this map turned out well. Hopefully, someday [soon!], I'll be able to actually make maps for my game. Then I can take a little more care with the maps, too. Of course, I've been saying that for, what, over 20 years now?

Quenten kindly wrote:Love the names - reminds me of Profantasia!Look forward to the video. And Monsen, dogtag sure can make maps - this one's great.

Thank you sir. I have no idea what "Profantasia" is, but you're clearly fond of it so I'm grateful for the comparison. Also, thank you for your confidence in my map-making, despite the lack of evidence. Ha ha ha. You're very kind.

Posted By: DogtagI know, right? That's what's so tragicomic about this. It's more detailed and more complete than any map I have of my game world.

I have similar problems, so when I wrote the updated tome, I decided to use maps from my game world, thus hitting two artificial birds with one stone. I ended up with great new maps for my campaign, and I had some real toughs and care about the area, which IMHO produced far better maps for the 3+ tome than the ones I had in the 3 tome.

Ah, right! Who can forget "Jim Pese Wastes" or "The Anomie Coalition"? Ah, well, I guess I did. But not really; I just didn't remember the name of the map itself. I remember Quenten's brilliant homage now! High praise, indeed, being compared to that. I'm not worthy.

And I think I remember you mentioning that you used the Tome3 as an impetus to create maps for your world. You're right, the new maps are a great change/addition to the Tome.

This is just a note about the video tutorials I mentioned and my less-frequent presence on the forum. My original aim was to get these video tutorials done by Thanksgiving but I ran into some scheduling problems with work, so I posted the map above in the meantime and was hoping to have them done by Xmas. But, then... a couple of weeks ago, Bargo (my dog, a giant 10-yr-old Yellow Lab named after an NPC in my campaign!) tore his CCL, the animal equivalent of our ACL. He had surgery this past Monday and everything seems to have gone well but recovery from the surgery is pretty long and hard, and the first two weeks are especially difficult as the pooch recovers from the trauma of the surgery (they cut off the top of the tibia, rotate it, shave it a little to create a more stable angle with the femur, and then screw in a metal plate to hold the tibia together). He's powering through it because he's pretty obstinate, but we've got 8 – 12 weeks of recovery and physical therapy ahead.

So... yeah, sorry. I've been very busy juggling care for Bargo and work for two clients. I'm going to be on the forum less frequently for the next week or two and, although I'm still working on the tutorials, they're going to be delayed a little again. But they're over halfway done, so they're coming along. Just a little later than I wanted.

Wow, ok, how did I miss this? Great looking map Dogtag! Sorry to hear about your dog, but I'm glad he's doing better. We've got five Pomeranians and one long haired Chihuahua where I live, and they're always getting into trouble. I look forward to seeing the videos when they're done.